The Farnborough Air Show is held Bi-Annually. Check to see when it is next being held.

Pammies is W3C Compliant

Add to Favorite Websites



The start-up company 'STAR' had only been in production for some eighteen months; its unexpected success had been phenomenal. It had focused on pet owners. The first television advert had gone out late one evening; it had asked animal owners for video footage of their pets performing tricks; ever since then the business had been inundated with tapes. Their advert stated that no tapes could be returned, however, every clip proudly offered would have the pet owners name attached to the clip before broadcasting, thereby giving every pet owner their fifteen minutes of fame.

This had been a clever ploy on part of the company, since the first advert they had received sack's full of tapes daily. These tapes would help to sustain production for some time to come. It had been the brain wave of Jen and Mickey, who met each other at university. On having left university, they set up an advertising company together. It fell to Jen this particular day to look for tapes staring kittens for their new project.


It had been an hour and a half and Jen still had not found a suitable tape. She drank a sip of her coffee and reached for the next tape. A red symbol embossed on the back of the tape caught her eye as she was putting into the tape slot. The tape started to run, and then a screeching came from inside the machine; followed by an ominous silence. "Damn," said Jen. She tried to eject the tape but it was firmly stuck in the machine. "Oh please," Jen said frustrated. To her astonishment, the videotape started to play and Jen could not believe what she was watching.

There was the cutest kitten that you could imagine playing with a red ball of wool. There was nothing extraordinary in this, many kittens before it would have been doing much the same thing. The contrast was that this kitten had a large pair of flowing gossamer wings, and was flying back and forth. The kitten was weaving what appeared to be a cat cradle with the wool. The cat stopped in mid-flight as if it knew it was being watched, and flew towards the screen; hovering on the spot it appeared to be looking straight into Jen's eyes: and then the display blanked.

Jen was still staring at the screen when Mickey entered the room, laughing he said. "Well, you are not going to get much done watching a blank screen". "What, no I know, the tapes jammed," she said pulling herself together. "Let me have a look", he said. On pushing the button, the tape slowly ejected. "Typical" Jen said. "Will you stop and take a look at this tape with me?" Jen said uneasy. "I'm sorry I can't honey." Mickey said giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I have a scheduled meeting and I'm already late," he said walking out of the room. Jen gingerly pushed the videotape back into the system but it would not run. In disgust, she threw it into the bin marked 'Destroy', and went to answer the ringing phone.

It was 7pm and Jen was making her way home by train, it would be another forty-five minutes before she reached her destination. She reached for her briefcase and opened it, as she placed her hand into it she scratched her hand on something inside the case. She withdrew her hand to find she had a scratch-mark across the back of her hand and that it was bleeding. She licked her hand with her tongue as she peered into the case. To her astonishment, the videotape with the red symbol was inside; she quickly slammed the briefcase shut.
Jen closed her eyes; this day had really been too upsetting. "You're getting blood on your clothes," someone said behind her. "Oh no, thanks for warning me," Jen said turning around, only to find she was alone in the train carriage. Feeling somewhat unnerved she took her mobile out of her handbag and phoned Mickey. He was unavailable; so she left him a message asking him to contact her as soon as possible; she desperately needed to talk to someone.

When Jen finally got home, she threw her coat and briefcase onto a chair and peeling off her clothes, walked through to the bathroom and showered. She felt refreshed after her shower, but her hand had become so red and swollen she had to bandage it. After getting dressed Jen made a snack and curled, up in a chair to eat it only to find she had little appetite, her mind was still reeling over the day's events.

The doorbell rang and on opening it, Jen ran straight into Mickey's arms sobbing. "Hey, what's up? You sounded so upset on the phone I decided to come straight round." "Oh Mickey, I've had such a dreadful day" Jen said between sobs, and then proceeded to tell him about it. He gently coaxed her throughout the telling of her story. It was clear to Jen that Mickey did not know what to make of it all, and for that, she could not blame him. "Let's see this tape," he said going to collect her briefcase off the chair.

"Be careful, my hand is red and swollen, from something in my briefcase that scratched the back of my hand," Jen said undoing the bandage from her hand, and held it out so that he could examine it. Unbelievingly, her hand was back to normal. This was more than Jen could take and she became hysterical. Mickey finally managed to calm her down. He gave her some sleeping tablets he found in her medicine cabinet. Mickey then put her into her bed and when she was sleeping soundly, he left for home.

Jen was awoken by cats fighting outside her bedroom window. She got up and looked outside, it was pitch-black outside and she could not see a thing. She looked at her watch; it was three in the morning, sighing, she slowly padded her way across the room to the kitchen for a glass of water. On her way back from the kitchen, she dropped the glass of water on the living room floor in shock.

Her briefcase was lying open on the chair and coming out of the shadows Jen could make out the silhouette of a cat walking towards her. As it moved towards her Jen could see the cat was the one she had seen earlier. She froze as the kitten brushed itself against her legs purring deeply. "Please pick me up Jen," it said.

"Go away, and leave me be" she said running into her bedroom and slamming the door shut. "I will not hurt you, please believe me Jen," said the cat that had appeared beside her in the room. "How can you talk and fly? It must be the sleeping tablets, I'm hallucinating," Jen, said rubbing her eyes. The cat flew up and hovered in front of her face "I will never harm you, I'm here to help; you are going to need me. Please hold me Jen, I can only fly in short bursts, and I am getting very tired," The kitten began to yawn, and Jen involuntarily yawned along with it. She reached out her arms muttering, "I don't know why, but for some reason I believe you."

The kitten snuggled down in her arms and purred loudly. "What are you called?" Jen said stroking the cat. "I'm Star," it said washing its paws. "That's a coincidence it's the same name as our company," she said as the cat began to wash her hand. "I know, but for now I must rest, I'm drained of energy and you are going to need me to be strong, goodnight Jen we will talk some more tomorrow." With that, Star jumped out of her arms onto the chair and was soon asleep. Jen went back to her bed, and in no time, at all, she was fast asleep, at one point when Jen, opened her, sleepy her eyes; Star was lying at the bottom of her bed.

Jen awoke the next morning feeling remarkably refreshed; she sang to herself, as she prepared for work. The only blight on this lovely day was that Star was nowhere to be seen. She left a saucer of milk for him and went off to work. Mikey could not believe the transformation in Jen, however, he decided it prudent not to ask too many questions about the previous night's events, to which Jen was very grateful. After work, Jen called into a supermarket and picked up some cans of the best cat food for Star. She was looking forward to seeing him again; he seemed to have a calming effect on her.

As she opened the front door, she heard a noise coming from the bedroom. "Is that you Star" she called. "And who, or what, is Star?" Jarrard said walking towards her. Jen was surprised to see him and replied angrily. "What are you doing here; and how the hell did you get in?" "Well, that's a fine way to greet your husband, I do still have a key you know," Jarrard said pecking her on the cheek. "Not for long, the divorce papers are due to be signed any day now," she said rubbing at her cheek as if to remove his peck. "That's why I'm here honey, It is essential that you change your mind about this divorce, and I'm here to ensure you do just that" he said threateningly.

"You know my situation; my solicitor has explained it in letters to you. You must change your mind, or I will be forced to take other measures." He said grabbing at her blouse lapels. "You don't frighten me any longer Jarrard, the days are long gone when you could bully me," she said brushing his hands away. Nevertheless, as she walked across the room her legs felt like jelly. "Why, after all these years do you want a divorce, have you met someone else?" He asked. "No, it's time for me to move on, start a new life, and that means breaking all ties with you," said Jen with bravado.

Jen was relieved to feel Star brushing against her legs; she automatically bent down and picked him up. "Is that yours? I thought you didn't like cats," said Jarrard. "This one is different, he is very special," Jen said stroking Star. Jen felt Star stiffen in her arms as Jarrard stepped towards her, and she put him down on the floor. "Well, are you going to change your mind, or am I going to have to change it for you? Jarrard said menacingly."

Jen felt scared now, she had experienced Jarrard's temper at first hand and she did not care for the look in his eyes. She moved backwards to escape him but was blocked by the window frame. Jarrard lunged for her; she sidestepped him, at that same moment, Star flew at him. A look of absolute shock, and horror, came over Jarrard's face as he lost his balance; and the pair of them went crashing out through the window. Jen looked down to see Jarrard impaled on the railings below, and watched as Star scurried off.

Jen did not see Star for some time. Then one night after work, she was sitting and watching television when the screen went blank and Star appeared on the screen. "Star, thank you so much for what you did, I miss you so much, are you ok?" She blurted out, relieved to be able to thank him at last. Star nodded and then licked at the screen. "Will I see you again?" she asked. He shook his head no, and pressed his paw up against the screen. Jen went across to the screen and placed her palm on the glass opposite his paw, she blew him a kiss as he slowly disappeared from view...